Dec. 20, 2013

Cheese paper. / Special to the Register

Written by

Wini Moranville

Special to The Register

Brut Rose / Special to the Register

Diana Bauman

Granola / xxxx

More

ADVERTISEMENT

Choice cheese paper

Local purveyors make it easy to score world-class artisanal cheeses for your year-end gatherings. But storing it correctly once home is your job. Tips from cheese guru C.J Bienert at The Cheese Shop of Des Moines (833 42nd St.; 528-8181):

Buy often: It’s better to buy just the amount of cheese you need than to buy a large hunk of it to store. Cheese is never better than when it’s freshly cut.

Wrap it right: If you do store it, avoid plastic wrap. Instead, use a cheese paper especially designed to let the cheese breathe, such as Formaticum Cheese Paper (pictured; available at www.formaticum.com). The Cheese Shop also sells a similar style of cheese paper for $10 per pound.

If all else fails: If your cheese has been stored in plastic wrap, scrape off and discard any layer of the cheese that has come into contact with the plastic.

Granola for chocolate lovers

Fort Madison bicycle shop owner Michael Winnike fell in love with a granola recipe he discovered in Boulder, Colo. Soon, he started producing his own versions, including an irresistible Chocolate Granola, starring little bits of high-quality 70 percent dark cocoa amidst the all-organic ingredients (oats, coconut, hazelnuts, almonds, sunflower and sesame seeds and more). A great stocking stuffer. Find it at select Hy-Vees, New Pioneer Coop in Iowa City and Everybody’s in Fairfield.

Sparkling wines: high and low

Whether you’re filling a bathtub with bottles on ice for a houseful, or clinking glasses with just the two of you, here are two picks for the holidays:

Real food for the new year

Want to eat better, but not sure where to start? Popular Iowa food blogger Diana Bauman, who writes, cooks and gardens, as well as home-schools three children in Windsor Heights, is offering free subscriptions to her e-newsletter, “25 Day Grace-Filled Journey to Real Food.”

Starting in January, she’ll offer steps you can take to switch from a processed-food diet to a real-food diet, with topics ranging from which cooking oils to use, to an introduction to natural sweeteners.